Sep 29—I’m gonna let the pictures do the talking this week… They have a lot to say

Day 1: It floods like crazy. Check out the background of the picture, where it looks like there must be a waterfall going downward because the street disappears? There was a waterfall. Hahaha. Everything was fine.

Day 5: Check out what came riding down the street today. Advertising is way more exciting in Mexico.

Day 8 (aka today): We went to a haunted cabin! Awww I was remembering when we went to the Haunted Cabin in the Black Hills. Do I look cool in this photo?

Dad!! I took a photo of cotton candy being sold out of a giant stone duck—I thought so much of you!!! I remembered going to the zoo with you and I thought it was so funny that literally it’s the same here!!!!

How would you like to live in this house?

August 25- Mom, I´m definitely not undernourished

Sorry y'all. The blog this week has one purpose and one purpose only: convince my mom that I don´t have a parasite, or a lack of food. If you don't like it, talk to my (crazy), wonderful, loving mom.

Carbs. Pure carbs. In the bag, in case you can't see, is a pound of tortillas.

The family that cooked me BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, and rolls!!!

step 1

Step 2

Step 3 

Giant chicken sandwiches for breakfast? When your companion is Hermana Moran it's a pretty normal occurrence... 

September 1 - Congratulations Aurora!!!!!!!!

Wow!!!!!!!!!!

I remember when we knocked on Aurora’s door and out came a timid woman. She had a baby on her hip and she was blinking in the sunlight. Hermana Rueda had met her before I even got to the mission field, and when Hermana Moran got here we were still working on that list of addresses. She let us in and she hardly said a word. We had no idea if she understood the message we shared with her. She doesn’t have much education or experience. She lives with her mom and her brother, and she is a single mom of two little boys.

But as time went on, we realized that she was one of our most prepared investigators. She was accomplishing every reading assignment we left with her and understanding the Book of Mormon perfectly. She was offering family prayer every night with her sons and coming to church every week. Each lesson she became more confident with the answers she gave to our questions, and the first comment she made in Relief Society left me cheesin so big, I was so surprised and happy to see her raise her hand. She started a little business out of her house selling snacks and treats, and often when we went to teach her, she and her 6-year-old son were preparing the little baggies together happily.

I know that this Gospel changed her. She was just waiting to hear it, and neither us nor she even knew it.

The day of her baptism came, and we told her we were going to be there early to set up the font, and that she should come at 6:00  to eat with the Relief Society and then have her baptism at 7:00. But 6:00 came and went without her. Then 6:30, and then 7:00!!!! At 7:15, she rushed in, all nervous smiles, saying that her 6-year-old had fainted earlier in the afternoon and she wanted to make sure he was okay before she left him with her family. Wowwww!!!!! This young woman’s commitment is incredible. Hermana Moran and I were concerned about her son, but she said he was fine when she left, was in good hands, and they’d only be apart an hour.

Never would I have known the day I met Aurora that she would develop that strong of a testimony that this church is the Church of Jesus restored in its original form—the form he organized while on earth. Over the course of our time with her, I often asked her if she felt the church was true, and she always said yes. Then I would ask her why, and she always said, “Because I feel so different ever since hearing this message.”  I loved asking this question because her answer was sincere, simple, and spoken without doubt. This message changes us. That is our Heavenly Father’s purpose. I invite all of you to let this gospel change you. Let the Creator mold you.

September 22- I made it out of the city!!!!

Lovin’ my new space. I finally graduated out of the city, and I have pics to prove it!

This new area is so different. The people here have not heard of the church or seen the missionaries around, like in my other area. The ward is a lot smaller (there were about 80 people yesterday). The members are great, just like in the other area. In my other area, every single member of the family worked all day, so it was hard to catch a time to see people and hard to bring along members to the lessons. Here, the people have a little bit more resources and time. People aren’t that receptive in the streets, but we’ve met some great people anyway!!!

My new companion’s name is Hermana Hernandez, and she is a good worker and likes to play pranks (like telling me when I arrived that we have a car. Haha!!). She’s from Distrito Federal like Hermana Moran!!

(next week I’ll send a pic)

Edited to Add:

Idk who Benito Juarez is but whenever a guy has their hair combed and gelled they call it "the Benito Juarez" so he's pretty famous. He probably has a significance much more important than his hair but since I don't have access to Wikipedia, y'all will have to check it out for yourself

September 15- House of the Lord, Holiness to the Lord

On Tuesday we went to the temple. It was my 5^th and favorite time going through a session. It literally changed me. I know that it is the House of God. I know that it is ordained of God to help us become better. In order to give us the revelation He wants to give us, we have to make that separation between heaven and earth more flimsy, more thin, more translucent. We have to do it. We have to work for it. How? Being obedient so that we’re not stained by the world. So that rather than saying with our lips that we trust God, we say with our actions that we trust Him. I know this Church is the one directed currently by our Savior Jesus Christ. That it has the completeness of spiritual knowledge that we all sense we need. That we all seek. And that we will only find here.

August 18- The word Obedience, like the word Repentance

Both of these words used to kinda bother me. Hearing about obedience made me feel mildly claustrophobic, and hearing about repentance made me feel sad.

Well here is a quote about repentance

Without repentance, there is no real progress or improvement in life.Pretending there is no sin does not lessen its burden and pain. Sufferingfor sin does not by itself change anything for the better. Only repentanceleads to the sunlit uplands of a better life. … Rather than interrupting the celebration, the gift of repentance is the cause for true celebration.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson

And for obedience, I am going to share my own wise words haha. I want to write about obedience because the Church focuses a lot of obedience, and sometimes we don’t understand why.

Commandments are advice from Someone who wants to help us be happy, and literally knows everything, so they are the biggest blessings ever. Imagine if we didn´t have them… Or if we had commandments from someone who wanted us to be happy, but didn´t know everything... Or if we had commandments from someone who knows everything, but who uses us for his benefit.

We are so lucky that even though we live in a world that can be confusing, we have a perfect map so that we don´t get lost spiritually. In order to have that map, we have to go to church, read the scriptures, pray, fast, get baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and go through the temple. If we don´t do these things we won´t know the commandments (have the map) and we´ll be left to our own wisdom. Which is so sad when we have the opportunity to be led by God. I know that obedience is the way to happiness in this life and the life to come, everyone, and that´s why we talk about it so much in the church. 

It also:

• Shows you trust God
• Shows you love God
• Brings you closer to Him and helps you get to know Him
• Gives Him excuses to bless you (He´s always looking for excuses to bless you)
• Lets you figure out if what people tell you is true (John 7:17)
• Makes you more sensitive to the Spirit
• Helps you see your divine potential

Obedience is a character trait of people who trust God more than themselves.

August 11th - Keep in mind that 30 pesos equals about $2.50

Here’s some fun things I saw this week:

This week I have a sincere invitation for everyone: Try to be humble with the people around you. We´re all on different paths, and there are things you have learned that they haven’t yet. But there are things they have learned that you haven´t yet learned. Always try to suck all the good out of every situation you´re in and leave all the bad behind. I have a great companion that is teaching me through her example (she swears it has nothing to do with her years of Taekwondo but I know better haha) that the only person and the only attitude, you can control is yourself and your own, so do it.